Word for Today, Wed 8 Dec 2004: Crosswalk "Happy, Happy"
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Today's devotional message comes from the Harvest Daily
Devotional. I'm not sure if I've ever shared this specific
resource with you before or not. It is available as one of many
possible devotional Email lists you can sign up for at
Crosswalk.com. This message is about what we give up and what we
gain as we choose not only the gift of salvation that Jesus
Christ freely offers to us, but also the things of this world
that we choose to give up, one by one, as we grow in the grace
and the knowledge of Christ and He teaches us, through His Word,
what is good for us and what isn't, and also what honors God the
Father and what displeases God.
I find that the things that please God end up being the things
that are good for me in the long run. The thing about sin that
is so deceptive is that it often feels good and seems so right.
Why else would we get caught in sin - especially after we have
been saved and redeemed?
Paul calls the things of this world "loss". Elsewhere, he even
refers to them as rubbish, depending on the translation used.
What he's saying is that anything less than God's best really
won't last, and in the end, it won't really be that good at all.
In that sense, anything that isn't God's best ends up being
rubbish.
At first glance, we don't see it that way. Many things we think,
say, and do even seem to be very positive things. In some ways,
they even may be. However, anything that impedes our personal
relationship with our Creator in the long run ends up being to
our loss.
As we continue in this Advent season, keep pointing your thinking
back to what God has done for us. Jesus Christ is the very
essence of God's love. God's Son has all power and authority,
yet He came to earth as a common man, was nothing special to look
at, he was born in a place with animals instead of some cozy
place, he grew up in humble means. As he became a man, he was
rejected by his home town and had to begin his earthly ministry
elsewhere. The downtrodden followed and worshiped him, but
others scorned and rejected him. Ultimately, he was crucified in
our place! It is we who deserve to be punished for turning our
backs on God, yet out of great love for us, God sent to us His
Son, and out of obedience to His Father and love for us, Jesus
Christ willingly came, knowing the outcome, yet coming anyway.
The ultimate thing Jesus faced was that as He bore our sins on
the Cross of Calvary, His own Father, God Himself, turned His
back on His own Son, because the righteousness of God cannot look
upon unpunished sin. Therefore Jesus took upon Himself the sin
of the world. Is that love or what?
Please ponder on such things as we approach the time of
Christmas. This is the Advent season, the time of reflection
upon the love of Christ shown to us.
Yours in Christ,
Brian
____________________________________________________________
Harvest Daily Devotional
December 8
"Happy, Happy"
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be
found in Him.
-Philippians 3:7-9
In testimonies, Christians often talk about what they gave up to follow
Jesus Christ. But in reality, what do we really give up? Some people
give up addiction to drugs or alcohol, while others give up having
hangovers. For most people, they give up a sense of guilt, emptiness,
loneliness, and the ever-present fear of death. Thus we could agree
with the Apostle Paul, who said,
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be
found in Him. (Philippians 3:7-9)
Paul is saying, "The things I have given up are nothing compared to what
God has given to me." This teaching of Paul's is a very important
principle to learn. We find happiness in God.
Psalm 119:1 says, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way." The word
blessed that is used here and throughout the psalms can be translated as
"happy." A more literal rendering of the word blessed, and I really
like this translation, would be "happy, happy." So if someone might ask
the psalmist, "How are you feeling today?" He might reply, "Happy,
happy." But here in this psalm and in other places of Scripture, we
find that happiness is always connected to holiness. We also find that
happiness is not something that we should seek outright. Happiness
should be the result of seeking holiness. Despite what our Declaration
of Independence says, the pursuit of happiness in and of itself is
generally a futile search. If you desire happiness, then seek the
holiness of God. Only then will you be, "happy, happy."
Copyright 2004 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text
from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or
otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson,
Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN
37214-1000.
=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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